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The  Road  of  the 
Loving  Heart 


and 

Compelling  Consider- 
ations for  the  Care  of 
Retired  Ministers 


INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT 
OF  NORTH  AMERICA 
III  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City 


Price,  5 cents  each,  50  cents 
per  dozen;  $2.75  per  hundred 


The  Road  of  the  Loving 
Heart 

By  Mildred  Welch 

^ J^'HAT  is  what  they  called  it,  those  simple 
Samoan  Islanders  who  built  the  road 
for  their  friend,  Robert  Louis  Stevenson — 
“a  name  that  brings  us  a breeze  blowing 
off  the  shores  of  youth.” 

The  Road  of  the  Loving  Heart  was  cut 
through  the  brush  with  much  labor  and 
toil,  in  order  that,  unhindered,  the  beloved 
story-teller  might  come  and  go  between 
his  house  in  the  woods  and  the  beach. 

Along  this  road  there  came  at  sunset  all 
his  “friendly  helpers  in  a foreign  isle,” 
to  join  with  him  and  his  family  in  the 
simple  worship  that  bound  all  hearts 
together  beneath  the  peace  of  his  roof. 

Fame,  honor,  wealth,  and  the  love  of 
unnumbered  hearts,  followed  him.  Life 
had  given  him  what  he  asked: 

“That  he  might  awake  each  day  with 
morning  face  and  morning  heart,  eager  to 
labor,  eager  to  be  happy  if  happiness 
should  be  his  portion  and,  if  the  day  were 
marked  for  sorrow,  strong  to  endure.” 

The  day  came  at  last  when  the  Samoan 
chiefs  carried  him  out  by  The  Road  of 
the  Loving  Heart  to  the  crest  of  the  hill 
that  looks  ever  to  the  restless  sea  and  the 
storm-swept  reefs.  There  they  laid  him 
to  rest,  and  on  the  stone  engraved  his  own 
sunny-hearted  words: 


5 


“Glad  did  I live  and  gladly  die 

And  I laid  me  down  with  a will. 

Home  is  the  sailor,  home  from  sea, 

And  the  hunter,  home  from  the  hill.” 

The  Road  of  the  Loving  Heart!  How 
good  it  is  that  it  was  granted  to  one  man, 
at  least,  to  go  home  that  way! 

But  do  we  ever  think  of  the  men  whom 
we  are  sending  to  their  Father’s  House 
bv  The  Road  of  the  Sorrowful  Heart? 

Men  who,  lacking  perhaps  the  special 
genius  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  lack 
nothing  of  his  courage,  his  patience,  his 
sunny-hearted  sacrifice  and  devotion.  / 

Instead  of  fame,  wealth,  honor,  they 
had  long  years  in  destitute  fields,  long 
watches  by  the  bedside  of  the  sick  and 
the  dying,  long  rides  in  heat  of  summer  and 
storm  of  winter.  Have  you  seen  them — 
that  thinning  line  of  old  ministers,  their 
shoulders  stooped,  their  hair  white,  their 
eyes  dimmed,  their  faces  marred  with 
others’  sorrows? 

One  of  them  went  home  not  long  ago 
by  The  Road  of  the  Sorrowful  Heart. 

When  he  died,  his  praises  were  sounded  far 
and  wide,  but  while  he  lived  he  was  in  ab- 
ject poverty  and  often  in  humiliating  need. 

“I  am  sorry,”  he  wrote,  when  he  acknowl- 
edged the  receipt  of  his  last  pittance  from 
the  Relief  Fund,  “to  have  caused  so  much 
trouble,  but  ere  another  collection  comes 
around  I will  be  where  the  wicked  cease 
from  troubling  and  the  weary  are  at  rest.” 


6 


Soon  afterward  the  old  minister  entered  in 
“where  beyond  these  voices  there  is  peace.” 

The  days  are  slipping  by  and  our  old 
ministers  are  going  home.  It  is  for  us  to 
choose  the  path  they  shall  tread.  Shall  it 
be  by  The  Road  of  the  Sorrowful  Heart? 
Or  shall  they  enter  the  land  where  none 
shall  ever  say  “I  am  old” — by  The  Road 
of  the  Loving  Heart  ? 

We  too  must  build  a Road  of  the  Loving 
Heart.  The  Samoans  encourage  us  to 
fulfil  our  obligations  to  the  old  ministers. 
Prompted  by  gratitude  for  Stevenson’s 
kindness,  with  their  own  hands  they  built 
The  Road  of  the  Loving  Heart,  so  that 
the  steep  hill  from  the  sea  to  his  home 
might  be  more  easy  for  his  feet.  > 

How  many  steep  hills  have  been  made 
easy  for  our  weary  feet  by  the  ministers 
of  Christ! 

How  many  spirits  in  prison  have  been 
liberated  by  the  ministers  of  God! 

How  many  in  sorrowing,  suflFerlng  and 
need  have  been  aided  by  them!  They 
married  the  living,  buried  the  dead, 
comforted  the  sorrowing,  led  us  to  Christ, 
started  our  feet  up  the  everlasting  stairs 
and  did  for  us  a thousand  deeds  of  mercy 
and  kindness.  We  owe  to  them  a debt  of 
gratitude  that  we  can  never  pay;  and  we 
will  not  deny  the  debt. 

Our  gratitude  must  become  so  practical 
that  we  shall  be  willing  to  sacrifice  time 
and  money,  and  with  our  hands  build  the 
loving  way  on  which  they  may  climb  up 


7 


to  the  eternal  City  cf  God,  and  thus  prove 
to  them  that — 

“The  Road’s  last  turn  will  be  the  best.’’ 

Then,  perchance,  we  shall  hear  the  tender 
voice  of  Him  whose  bleeding  feet  were 
bruised  on  the  Via  Dolorosa:  “Well  done! 
Inasmuch  as  ye  have  built  it  for  these. 
My  brethren,  ye  have  built  it  unto  Me.” 


8 


Compelling  Considerations 
for  the  Care  of  Retired  Ministers 
By  Willis  P.  Odell  and  Others  - 

1.  Love:  The  faithful  minister  greatly 
endears  himself  to  the  people  he  serves  and 
gets  a strong  grip  on  hearts,  because  of 
his  ministries.  It  is  impossible  to  forget 
him.  While  memory  lasts,  affection  for 
him  should  prompt  a retiring  competency 
for  his  old  age. 

2.  Gratitude:  The  man  who  helps  a 
soul  at  the  hour  of  conversion  and  assists 
him  in  getting  a right  start  in  the  Christian 
life  is  a genuine  benefactor.  Many  owe 
all  their  prosperity  to  the  man  of  God 
who  guided  them  in  a great  crisis.  Every 
consideration  of  thankfulness  calls  for  an 
attempt  to  pay  the  debt  thus  created. 
What  have  you  done  to  discharge  your 
obligation? 

3.  Honor:  The  material  prosperity  of 
churches  is  largely  due  to  the  pastors, 
who  have  known  how  to  organize  victory. 
They  have  laid  the  plans  and  pushed  the 
campaigns  out  of  which  have  come  fine 
edifices  and  commodious  parsonages.  It 
would  be  a shame  for  the  people  who  have 
profited  by  their  diligence  and  wisdom  to 
let  them  suffer  in  old  age. 

4.  Wisdom:  Mr.  Carnegie  established  a 
pension  fund  for  retired  teachers  and  called 
it  the  “Carnegie  Foundation  for  the 


9 


Advancement  of  Teaching.”  That  was 
fine!  The  movement  to  take  care  of  re- 
tired ministers  can  be  just  as  fittingly 
called  the  “Church  Foundation  for  the 
Advancement  of  Preaching.”  Provision 
for  the  proper  care  of  the  veteran  preachers 
will  be  a potent  stimulus  to  the  best 
endeavors  of  the  ministry. 

5.  Social  Justice:  Great  corporations 
are  providing  pensions  for  faithful  em- 
ployees. Many  states  provide  widow’s 
pensions  and  have  provisions  for  assisting 
retired  teachers,  and  cities  look  after  re- 
tired firemen  and  other  public  servants. 
Where  there  has  been  an  inadequate  wage 
for  genuine  public  service,  the  sense  of 
justice  requires  that  there  be  provision  for 
comfortable  retirement. 

6.  Efficiency:  Rarely  does  a preacher 
receive  an  adequate  salary  or  a reasonable 
compensation.  The  amount  paid  is  gen- 
erally small,  and  he  cannot  hope  to  lay 
aside  an  old  age  competency  from  his 
income.  To  relieve  him  from  anxiety  for 
the  future  by  providing  a reasonable  re- 
tiring pension,  is  to  give  steadiness  to  his 
service,  so  that  he  can  use  all  his  energy 
for  his  one  task.  It  will  forestall  the 
necessity  of  his  adopting  a “side-line,” 
and  will  help  him  to  engage  whole-heartedly 
in  spiritual  enterprises. 

7.  Absolute  Equity:  The  laymen  call 
the  ministry  into  the  service  of  the  church, 
and  expect  them  to  vow  to  “devote  them- 


10 


selves  wholly  to  God  and  His  work.” 
Commissioned  by  God  and  cut  off  by  their 
vows  from  gainful  occupations,  it  is  only 
fair  that  the  preachers  be  supported 
through  their  entire  life  by  those  who  are 
partners  with  them  in  the  common  task. 
That  veteran  minister  was  right  when  he 
challenged  a great  body  of  laymen: 
“You  took  us  for  life!  Then  see  us 
through!”  The  care  of  the  retired  ministry 
is  not  a charity.  It  is  a duty. 

8.  Necessity:  If  the  church  crowds  her 
ministers  to  the  wall,  they  will  be  com- 
pelled to  enter  secular  callings  in  order  to 
care  for  their  families,  lest  they  fall  under 
the  condemnation  of  St.  Paul  as  being 
“worse  than  an  infidel.”  The  average 
income  of  preachers  in  America  is  less  than 
nine  hundred  dollars.  Spirited  young  men, 
fresh  from  college  halls,  are  chilled  by  the 
prospect  of  inadequate  support  and  of 
inevitable  poverty,  and  halt  at  the  door- 
way of  the  church.  Does  the  church  that 
fails  to  take  care  of  the  men  who  have 
worn  out  their  lives  in  its  service  deserve 
to  have  anyone  decide  to  wear  out  his 
life  in  such  an  ungrateful  task.? 

9.  Loyalty:  “If  we  wanted  to  under- 
mine* religion,  we  would  not  waste  our 
time-  attacking  the  Bible.  We  would 
starve  the  preachers.”  So  saying,  the 
Globe  is  right.  Christianity  is  at  stake. 
The  prosperity  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on 
earth  is  bound  up  with  the  steadiness  of 
ministerial  service.  To  unsettle  the  min- 


II 


istry  is  to  strike  viciously  at  the  whole 
enterprise.  There  must  be  preachers  if 
the  gospel  is  to  be  proclaimed.  Loyalty 
to  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church  is  the 
ultimate  foundation  on  which  the  treat- 
ment of  the  preacher  must  rest.  Those 
who  really  love  their  Lord  and  are  con- 
cerned for  the  success  of  his  program  will 
get  into  close  touch  with  the  Interchurch 
World  Movement,  which  aims  first  of  all 
to  deal  in  honest  fashion  with  the  Christian 
ministry,  including  the  retired  ministers 
who  have  fairly  won  a comfortable  support 
in  old  age. 

10.  The  Earned  Increment;  Men  of 
wealth  recognize  an  “unearned  increment” 
in  their  property  due  to  favorable  condi- 
tions which  are  not  the  result  of  their  own 
energies,  and  by  liberal  benefactions  are 
returning  to  the  community  a part  of  their 
earnings.  Wise  and  thoughtful  business 
men  are  recognizing  also  the  “earned 
increment”  which  the  minister  has  added 
to  property  values — for  morals  and  religion 
are  a financial  asset — and  are  meeting  such 
obligations  by  providing  endowments  for 
ministers  in  their  old  age. 

11.  Sane  Thinking:  The  principal 
change  in  the  thinking  of  the  church  con- 
cerning the  support  of  retired  ministers 
has  been  the  substitution  of  the  idea  of  a 
moral,  religious,  and  financial  obligation 
for  that  of  a charity.  The  usual  helpless 
financial  condition  in  which  the  average 
clergyman  finds  himself  in  old  age  is  not 


12 


due  to  lack  of  business  judgment,  or  of 
rigid  economy,  but  to  the  very  conditions 
under  which  he  must  work. 

12.  Willingness:  The  willingness  of 
the  people  to  give  to  the  cause  of  the 
retired  minister  is  measured  by  their  under- 
standing of  the  principles  involved.  Hence 
the  necessity  of  a campaign  of  education. 
As  Bishop  Lawrence  said: 

“The  more  you  think,  the  more  you  will 
give.  A man  who  will  say  ‘Yes,’  and  give 
fifty  dollars  today,  will  give  five  hundred 
dollars  if  you  wdl  take  time  to  kindle  his 
imagination.” 


I 


No.  .30O.  I. 


Jan.  10^0. 


